Originally Posted by wolf_06
A while ago I wanted to get rid of my 2011 cruze LS (piece of junk).
Now I'm looking for a reliable fuel efficient compact car, automatic, non-turbo, with maybe some nice rims, but steel wheels may be an option as well.
Civic is the most expensive of the bunch right now, elantra is the most affordable.
Please give me your inputs, thanks!
I have a 15 Mazda3, which is going to be very similar to the 18.
Mine is the I, with the smaller 2.0 engine and the 6 speed auto. I wanted the hatch, but I couldn't fine one for a decent price when I needed to buy, so I got the sedan.
The pros, IMO, are the handling and feel of the car. It drives nicely and feels very buttoned down on the road. The suspension isn't super fond of our garbage roads around here, but not much is. It can bounce a bit on broken pavement, but it's generally well composed. The performance is adequate, I don't drive like an idiot and at sane, legal speeds the car does just fine. It's not fast by any means, but unless you're into racing it should work fine. The transmission is very smooth, you can't even notice the shifts at all. MPG has been great, I've been averaging around 31 now that it's warmed up a bit, and my driving is mostly city. You can very easily top 40 on the interstate with the cruise control on. I actually like the 16 inch wheels on the I, the alloy wheels look nice, but the smaller wheels lead to a much cheaper tire, which is big up here where snow tires are virtually mandatory. Probably a better ride than the low pro 18s, too, although I didn't try one with those wheels. With snow tires it's done very well even in the severe winters where I live, but I don't know if that's an issue for you.
The downsides are that there is some wind noise at speeds, and the infotainment system gets really balky when it's very cold (below zero, mostly, which it is for months at a time here), constantly wanting to restart until the car warms up. Some of the fluids are proprietary stuff, such as the ATF (Mazda FZ) and coolant (Mazda FL22) which are not commonly available and expensive. Dealers will stock both, but the ATF in particular costs a fortune. It's supposedly a "lifetime" fluid, but given as every other manufacturer has backpedaled from that nonsense, I'm not inclined to believe Mazda has found the magical juice the rest couldn't. Aftermarket fluids do exist from Ravenol, but even then they're only slightly less than the Mazda factory stuff, and still more than typical ATF/coolant.
Spare keys are very expensive ($300 each!) but I don't know if that's a Mazda problem or just a modern car problem. This is the newest car I've ever owned and the first with keyless entry, so no real frame of reference there. The visibility is generally poor, but that I know is a modern car problem instead of a Mazda one.
All in all, I like it a lot, and I'd definitely recommend taking a serious look at a 3.